Has anyone noticed that the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street Movement are basically philosophically the exact same thing? They’re literally just two groups of people who are upset with the big government cronyism that has taken over Washington. Both want a smaller, more accountable government, they just happen to be comprised of people who are demographically different in almost every way, aside from being primarily white. Maybe a good third party candidate could unite these two factions and enact some actual change in Washington.

One thing to keep in mind about the abortion debate is that those who are pro-life, despite many being Christian conservatives, are not bigots or racists, or sexists. In the debate surrounding same-sex marriage, it’s easy to identify those who are against gay marriage as just prejudiced, because it’s hard to see a real argument for banning gay marriage. It all really does seem to come from a fear of the unknown or just homophobia. Because the same people are often times against abortion and gay marriage, it’s easy to identify them as unjustified in their argument against abortion as they are in gay marriage. That’s simply not the case. Abortion is, at the very least, the termination of the potential for human life if not the actual ending of one. All of science agrees that since sperm and egg cells can be considered to be alive, the fetus that they create is alive as well. The debate doesn’t center around the fact that abortion ends a life, just about when in development a fetus does become a human life. The law is very unclear about this, as the murder of a pregnant woman counts as a double murder, but abortion is somehow justified.

As a pro-choice libertarian, I believe that it’s a personal decision for the mother to make. But those who are pro-life are just extending the duty that I’m sure we all agree that government has to protect its citizens. Murder is unquestionably wrong, and if you believe a fetus to be a human life at any stage of development, then abortion is synonymous with murder. This doesn’t come from sexism or bigotry, but from a genuine belief that every human life has value, and it’s the government’s job to protect these lives. It’s important to keep this in mind as debate rages on about this incredibly divisive issue, because both sides have genuine, humanitarian, justifiable interests at heart.